{"id":2606152,"date":"2026-05-23T09:22:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T13:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scotus-dismisses-alabamas-bid-to-execute-inmate-with-borderline-intellectual-disability\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T09:23:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T13:23:45","slug":"scotus-dismisses-alabamas-bid-to-execute-inmate-with-borderline-intellectual-disability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scotus-dismisses-alabamas-bid-to-execute-inmate-with-borderline-intellectual-disability\/","title":{"rendered":"SCOTUS Dismisses Alabama&#8217;s Bid to Execute Inmate with Borderline Intellectual Disability"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fscotus-dismisses-alabamas-bid-to-execute-inmate-with-borderline-intellectual-disability%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2606152&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Alabama\u2019s request to execute Joseph Clifton Smith-who was convicted of murder and found by lower courts to be intellectually disabled-was rejected by a divided U.S. Supreme Court. The dismissal leaves the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-to-hear-challenge-to-two-biden-vaccine-mandates-january-7\/\" title=\"... to Hear Challenge to Two Biden Vaccine Mandates January 7\">lower-court rulings<\/a> in Smith\u2019s favor and effectively blocks the execution.  <\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court had previously barred executions of intellectually disabled people (ruling in 2002) and, in later cases, required courts to consider additional evidence in borderline situations because IQ tests can be imprecise. In Smith\u2019s case, his five IQ scores ranged from 72 to 78, and his <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >record included special education<\/a> and limited academic functioning.  <\/p>\n<p>Even though the case (Hamm v. Smith) was argued in December, the Court chose an unusual outcome-dismissing the appeal rather than issuing a decision. Five justices supported the dismissal, while four dissented, criticizing the lower appellate court\u2019s handling of the borderline-intellectual-disability analysis.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><br \/>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\"><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>A divided Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed Alabama\u2019s bid to be allowed to execute a convicted murder who was found by lower courts to be intellectually disabled.<\/p>\n<p>The court\u2019s action leaves in place lower court rulings in favor of Joseph Clifton Smith, 55, who has been on death row roughly half his life after his conviction for beating a man to death in 1997.<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court prohibited execution of intellectually disabled people in a landmark ruling in 2002. The justices, in cases in 2014 and 2017, held that states should consider other evidence of disability in borderline cases because of the margin of error in IQ tests.<\/p>\n<p>The issue in Smith\u2019s case is what happens when a person has multiple IQ scores that are slightly above 70, which has been widely accepted as a marker of intellectual disability.<\/p>\n<p>Smith\u2019s five IQ tests produced scores ranging from 72 to 78.<\/p>\n<p>Smith had been placed in learning-disabled classes and dropped out of school after seventh grade, his lawyers said. At the time of the crime, he performed math at a kindergarten level, spelled at a third-grade level and read at a fourth-grade level.<\/p>\n<p>The justices had taken up the case to consider how courts should handle such borderline cases of intellectual disability.<\/p>\n<p>Arguments took place in December.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than issue a decision, though, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/obama-speaks-out-on-supreme-court-ruling-striking-blow-to-republicans\/\" title=\"Obama criticizes ... ruling against Republicans.\">high court dismissed<\/a> the appeal, an unusuaI action that leaves the last lower-court ruling in place.<\/p>\n<p>The three liberal justices along with Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett formed the majority to dismiss the case.<\/p>\n<p>The other four conservative justices dissented, faulting the federal appeals court in Atlanta for improperly analyzing the case and complaining that their colleagues should have ordered the appeals court to re-examine Smith\u2019s case.<\/p>\n<p>The case is Hamm v. Smith, 24-872.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: italic;\">The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. 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